— Deputation within a government department holds a significant role, necessitating recruitment under exceptional circumstances when there is a lack of expertise within the department in the relevant subject or field — In such situations, the prescribed procedure outlined in Rule 20-A of the Civil Servants (Appointment, Promotion, and Transfer) Rules, 1973, must be adhered to — However, it is imperative to emphasize that deputation should not entail an indefinite period of service but should conform to the specified duration for the deputation — The normal period of deputation is three years and the concerned officer has to report back after completion of his three years period unless it has been extended to further two years and the maximum period is five years in terms of Serial No.27 (iv) of ESTA Code Volume-I (Civil Establishment Code), whereby both the borrowing and lending organization should ensure immediate repatriation of the deputationist — Furthermore, the period of deputation has to be defined specifically and after expiry of the said period, the officer should automatically be relieved from his office duties, unless his period has been extended. [2024 SCLR 34 = 2024 SCMR 188 = 2023 SCP 309]

— The deputationist by no stretch of the imagination and in the absence of any specific provision of law can ask to serve the total period of deputation and he can be repatriated being a deputationist by the Competent Authority in the interest of exigency of service as and when so desired and such order of the competent authority cannot be questioned — The Civil Servants Act, 1973 and the rules made there-under as well as ESTACODE are silent about the fact that a deputationist must serve his entire period of deputation and this omission seems deliberate enabling the Competent Authority to utilize the service of an employee in the manner as it may deem fit and proper — The period of deputation can at best be equated to that of an expression of the maximum period which can be curtailed or extended by the Competent Authority and no legal or vested rights whatsoever are available to a deputationist to serve his entire period of deputation in the borrowing Department. [2024 SCLR 34 = 2024 SCMR 188 = 2023 SCP 309]